Okay, we now have a plot developing. Slowly, I'll admit, but it's going. Everything was going perfect and then boom, Yama freaks and leaves. Why you ask? Well, you'll have to read and find out. Enjoy the next chappie.

Is Anyone Else Seeing a Pattern Here?

Taichi raised a hand to knock on the apartment door and took a breath to steel himself.

The door swung open after the first knock.

"Taichi!" Before he knew what was happening, his mother pulled him into a rib-breaking hug. "Oh, my little boy, I've missed you so much!"

"Uh, mum?"

She looked up at him curiously. "What is it Tai?"

"Chest. Breathe. Now." His mother looked slightly confused before her eyes widened and she let him go. Taichi gasped and coughed. Then he grinned. "Well, at least you haven't changed too much."

"Oh Taichi." She smiled tearfully and pulled him inside. "Your father will be so pleased to see you when he gets back from work. So will Kari."

"Kari's here too?" Taichi broke into a grin and rushed into the lounge room noticing briefly that it hadn't changed at all either.

"Tai!" There was a blur of movement almost too fast to be seen and then Taichi found himself once again captured in a very tight embrace, this time by his sister. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you. How are you?"

"I'm fine." Taichi smiled gently as she pulled away. He brushed his finger up against her cheek and wiped away the tears there. "I'm glad to see you again though."

"Oh Tai." She hugged him again then stepped back. "You've hardly changed at all." She laughed and touched his hair. "That certainly hasn't changed a bit. You still look like a walking bush."

Taichi rolled his eyes. "It's nice to know your opinion of me hasn't changed either." Taichi studied her properly and almost took a step back in shock. He hadn't changed but his little sister sure had.

Hikari had grown her hair and now had streaks of blond, red and a darker brown through it. She was taller and was no longer the sweet little teenager he left behind. A nostalgic feeling settled in his stomach along with a heavy taste of regret. He hadn't been there to see her grow into the beautiful woman she now was.

"You're so beautiful Kari," he said with a soft smile. "Too beautiful I think. I'll kill any boy who so much as looks at you in the wrong way."

"Does that include me?"

Taichi grinned as he faced Takeru emerging from Hikari's room. Sure thing, that face was the same one as the bartender from the night he'd gone out with Ryotu. Takeru had changed even more than Hikari. He was taller than Taichi now and had grown his hair as well as a goatee. Not to mention he'd gotten glasses.

"Depends, do you look at her the wrong way?"

"Any way I look at her is right." Takeru smirked and grabbed Hikari from behind in a warm hug.

Taichi laughed and clasped Takeru's hand in greeting over Hikari's shoulder. "It's good to see you again TK."

"You too. So what have you been up to all this time?" Takeru and Hikari sat down on the couch with Taichi's mother. Taichi sat down in an armchair.

He sighed. "Well, first of all, I'm sorry I haven't been in contact with you for a while. I just got caught up with everything that had been happening and I kind of forgot."

"Taichi," his mother chided gently. "What could be so important that you forgot about your family. It's been five months since you called last or sent a letter."

Taichi scratched at the back of his head nervously and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess that was pretty slack of me. But after this I promise I'll call more and I'll even see if I can stick around for a while."

"After what?" Hikari asked curiously. "You know you never told us about your job only that you'd dropped out of university because of it."

"Well university was never my thing anyway." Taichi braced himself. "Well, the reason I'm back is because of the National Soccer Championships."

"You came back to watch a game of soccer?" Takeru asked sceptically. "Or is it because you heard Davis and Ken were in the team?"

"Well I was pretty excited to hear that, but no I didn't come back to watch a game of soccer. I came back to play a game of soccer." Taichi grinned. "I'm the vice-captain of the Kyoto team."

"Oh my gosh! Taichi that's great." Hikari jumped up and gave her brother another hug.

"Oh honey, I'm so proud of you," his mother gushed and tried to hold back her tears but couldn't. "I'm going to call your father right now. He'll be so excited to hear this. I'm sure he'll brag to all of his work friends." Mrs. Yagami ran into the hallway to call her husband.

Takeru grinned. "Way to go Tai. That's pretty impressive. How long have you been on the team?"

"A year and a half I think. I was picked to go straight to second division and after a while they used me to sub for a few games in first division. Next thing I know, I'm on the team and a few months later I'm vice-captain. Pretty lucky huh."

"I'll say." Takeru grinned again. "It's a really great achievement, you should be proud." Then he frowned. "How did I not hear about your name though? Being vice-captain, you should be fairly well known."

Taichi shrugged. "I asked if I could keep a low profile. I don't really like attention. Not to mention, I'm still considered a rookie by many standards, so I don't get talked about too much."

"I guess." Takeru would have said more but his phone rang. "Excuse me." He got up and answered it, walking back into Hikari's old room.

"It's probably the magazine calling. I think they found out Matt's back in town and now they're pestering Takeru for an interview."

"You've seen Yamato?" Taichi asked, his voice somewhat strained.

Hikari looked at him funny. "Yeah, a few days ago. We're meeting up with him later today." She grinned. "Why don't you come? It'll be great."

"Uh, Kars, I'm not sure —"

"Oh come on. Trust me, we'll have fun. We're going to visit everyone and meet up later for dinner. Now that you're in town it'll be everyone. You have to come, you are our leader after all." She pleaded with him.

"Kars, I …" he trailed off as Hikari gave him the most adorably pathetic puppy-dog look he'd ever seen. "You learned that from Takeru didn't you?" Taichi shook his head. "I swear he's a bad influence. Fine, I'll come."

"Yay!" Hikari hugged him again. "You won't regret this, I promise." She was about to dash into the room when she saw Takeru exit the room. "Tai agreed to come with us today."

Takeru grinned. "That's great. It'll be so cool. That was Matt. He's definitely coming. I told him to meet us here. He'll be here in a few minutes."

"That's great. Well, I should finish getting ready." Hikari grinned and dashed into her old room.

Takeru shook his head amusedly as he watched her. "You would think we didn't have our own apartment, we're always over here, or at mum's, or dad's."

"Yeah, I heard about the move." Takeru looked over at Taichi and grinned weakly. Taichi was giving him a soft glare. "You know what I'll do to you if you hurt her in any way."

"Yeah, I know."

"Good then." Taichi grinned. "You'll find I'm not that bad to get along with."

"I'm sure," Takeru agreed sarcastically. "Of course I never saw what Mat was talking about when he said you were a peach to get on with."

Taichi stilled. "Maybe you misheard," he said after a slight pause of nervousness, which he desperately hoped Takeru hadn't noticed. "I think he might have said I'm a peach to get it on with."

Takeru laughed. "Well I wouldn't know anything about that."

"You'd better not." Hikari emerged from the room with a smile and hugged Takeru protectively. "You weren't hitting on my darling Keru now were you Taichi?" She grinned.

"I think he's safe from me." Taichi returned the grin.

Takeru studied the older man before him closely as he and Hikari bantered lightly and renewed their relationship. He's changed in some ways, and yet, he's till the same. He looks the same, acts the same, to all appearances, he hasn't changed at all. But there's something in his eyes, something happened and it's affected him. But what and why? Takeru pondered their previous conversation. I think it may have something to do with Matt. I'll ask him when I get the chance.

The doorbell rang and Mrs. Yagami rushed to answer it.

"Yamato! Goodness, it's been so long since we've seen you! Come in!" The three heads in the living room swiveled around as she exclaimed that. Takeru glanced quickly at Taichi and saw a look of apprehension cross his face briefly before it was covered up with a bland neutral expression. What was that? Takeru wondered.

There was the sound of deep laughter and then the blond figure entered the living room. His gaze was cheerful and he was smiling brightly, until he noticed the silent figure on the couch. Those shining blue eyes widened and his grin slipped a bit before being quickly replaced with a soft smile of greeting.

"Hi Taichi."

"Yamato." Taichi got up and offered him a small smile in return. "What a wonderful surprise seeing you again so soon." Taichi grinned at him then, trying to hide the nervousness he felt as those blue eyes continue regarding him calmly.

But Yamato could see through it. He faltered again. "Yeah, I'm just full of surprises." He looked over at Takeru. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. Hika?"

"I'm ready," Hikari smiled.

Takeru nodded. "Taichi? Do you need to grab anything from your hotel?"

"No, I'm fine."

Yamato looked a bit surprised at the inclusion of the brunette, but accepted it willingly. "Let's go then," he suggested, wanting to get away from the stifling room and the strange feelings he was getting as he stared at the desirable Taichi who was so close and yet so far away.

"Sure." Takeru led the way and they all said good bye to Taichi's mother as they passed the kitchen, though Taichi gave her a hug as well as he passed.

"Come see me again when you have time, okay honey?" She tried to hide her tears but Taichi saw them and wiped them away gently.

"Why don't you and dad come see me tomorrow?" He reached into his back pocket and pulled out two tickets to the game. "It'd be really great if you could come."

"Oh thank you Taichi!" His mother hugged him.

"It doesn't quite make up for not calling you, but it's the only thing I can do right now."

"That's all right. We'll meet you after and we can go have dinner. Just the five of us. Six if Yamato wants to join us too." She smiled at the older blond man, who looked a bit taken aback. Yamato was about to say something when he was cut off.

"Five?" Taichi looked confused. He looked around at Hikari and Takeru. The blond boy tugged at his collar nervously and Hikari blushed and giggled slightly.

"I guess I forgot to mention that to you." Hikari held out her hand so Taichi could see the ring. "We're engaged."

"What?!" Both Taichi and Yamato yelled out before rounding on their in-laws.

"I'm so going to get you Takeru!" Taichi ran after the younger blond boy as he quickly exited the building. Hikari just put her head in her hands and groaned while her mother shook her head at the two boys. Yamato just stood there, looking stunned.

AN: raise your hand if you didn't see that one coming? *raises hand* that was something I came up with five minutes ago. Hope you enjoyed.